The known world.

I haven’t been writing a whole lot lately. In part, I’ve been sick of my own voice. My own chatting about my kids. Don’t I have anything more interesting to say? I’m sure I do, but it gets lost in the chaos of packing lunches, finding missing shoes and fending off yet another diaper rash. I have started to find my groove staying home. I found it about a month before MJ went back to school, and now with her in school a good chunk of the week, I am feeling particularly balanced.

It turns out, balance doesn’t make for very interesting blog posts. I manage to cook healthy meals, keep our house reasonably clean, read a bit before bed and get enough rest most nights. There are still weekends in which I am immersed in tantrums after being woken 5 times in the night with the needs of little kids. But they are short-lived and then we return to our routine.

The weather has turned into the pristine Minnesota fall we all await in the humid throes of July. I’ve been getting a good amount of exercise, keeping my weight at reasonable limits as I approach my 6th month of pregnancy. I’ve been reorganizing the bedrooms to make room for yet another person in this house of ours. Purging stuff so that our 2,400 square foot house doesn’t feel cramped (my pack-rat tendencies have made that start happening).

I have spent my days finding the items that Greta decides to hide. She’s been in the midst of an obsession with hiding important objects she gets a hold of. Keys, phones, shoes, things that she knows are used often, are quickly stowed somewhere only a 14 month old would think of whenever they are spotted.

MJ spends her time dressing up, pretending to be a queen, or a bride, and dancing around the living room. Helping watch her sister, make her laugh, and keep her out of trouble. We are spending time learning big new words, like “motivated” and “pelvis”, that seem to enrich our conversations and make her think about new things.

The littlest one, still in-utero, is kicking me constantly. Sapping my energy a little more every day, and undoubtedly listening to his sisters screech and preparing for what is to come. MJ votes for the names “Nora” or “Diego” and we tell her “we’ll think about it”, hoping she’ll forget.

And our days plug along. I can’t believe I’ve been home with the girls for over a year now, the time goes so much faster than it did while I was working. It seems that everyone I know that has a third kid completely drops off the edge of the blogging world. I vow to not be like that, but that means I need to do a little better about blogging with just 2.5 kids. So you may hear a few more mundane details, and I’ll just cross my fingers that someday I’ll look back on all this and consider it totally fascinating.

The politics of an early start in school (etc.)

Yesterday, I dropped MJ off for her first day of preschool.  Since she’s been in a group care setting before, and since she’s the most social child that has ever been born, I knew she would do fine.  I wasn’t nervous for her, mostly just excited and a bit wistful.  

I can’t believe she’s old enough for preschool.  Technically speaking, she’s not old enough for preschool; at least not public preschool, because her birthday misses the cutoff by a couple weeks.  In Saint Paul, you can test in early to Kindergarten, but not to preschool.  But even if you test in early, you are bottom of the list for priority in which school you go to, which basically means you would only get into a terrible school.

Before she left daycare/early preschool back in March, the hubs and I were feeling that she was being held back.  That she could be doing much more than she was and should be with older kids.  So we (I) set out to find a way to make that so.  We decided to start her early in a private program and then, hopefully, transfer her back to public school for first grade.  She will have less choice than if she started in Kindergarten, because most kids will have already started in the program and will get preference, but she will be able to transfer in without her birthday counting against her. 

At least, that is how we understand it.  And if we change our minds about her readiness, then we’ll start her in public school with her regular group next year.  

Getting to this point, though, was more of a roller coaster than I anticipated.  It was difficult to find a program that supported this desire, and almost everyone said “We’ll see…. she may be fine now but will suffer when she’s older…” This whole argument is so infuriating to me.  The decision seems to be taken from the parent.  I am biased in favor of an early start, in large part because I started early and am so, so thankful that I did.  I can’t imagine how my life would have been different if I had started a year later, and think I probably would have spent much of my schooling bored.  

Furthermore, I think that a parent would be crazy to want their girl to mature before most of the other girls.  I remember those girls growing up…  and they had lots of attention, but it never seemed to take them places they should really be going.  Additionally, she is one of the most social kids I know; she gets it from her Dad, who is also one of the most social people I know :).  

The downsides, though, make me a bit nervous.  She is 7th percentile for height in her age group, so she is a full head shorter when paired with kids that are older than her.  Her personality is big, and she’s not shy, so I don’t think this will be too much to her detriment.  But still… Yesterday, she came home from school so full of excitement.  But she also told me about two boys that were mean to her… one of whom was “so much older… like 6 or something…” and called her a little kid.  One of whom pushed her.  Is this what happens?  This is all new territory for me… 

All in all, though, this school is just magical.  It reminded me of how excited I was for school at this age, and all the possibility school held.  As long as that’s how she continues to feel, I think she’s in a good place.

Had to look this one up: 22 weeks

So as I mentioned, somewhat unceremoniously, I am pregnant.  With our third child.  Also, it is a boy.  

This little boy has not gotten nearly the blog attention that the two little girls had gotten by this point in their existence.  Greta got weekly updates.  MJ got lots of freak out posts.  But this one?  At 22 weeks old, he’s had two measly posts.  Already, it seems, he is somewhat neglected. 

I am excited for him.  I am excited to add him to our family.  It’s just that I don’t have much time to think about it, and I am just too tired to think about it.  With my last two pregnancies, I was working in an office setting, and so I had a lot of time to sit down and rest.  This time, I am on the move constantly, chasing a new walker and arguing with a 3-year-old.  MJ was our first, so we clearly had no idea what we were doing and my posts from the time period reflect that.  Greta took a lot of struggle to conceive, and so she was my little hard fought miracle from the beginning.  And this guy?  Sometimes I feel sorry for him.  The chaos he’s going to enter into, he just doesn’t know.  But also, he will have two amazing older sisters and two very tired parents who will probably let him eat a lot of junk food and watch a lot more TV than his sisters were allowed.  

It’s worth noting how this pregnancy is going.  In truth, it’s easier than the last two.  My morning sickness wasn’t nearly as intense (and is long gone by now).  For the first 20 weeks I was running semi-consistently; I had started running again back in December, and managed to keep at it 2-3 times a week, though my run last week convinced me that I am done for now.  The amount of pain I felt, and the overwhelming need to pee, made me commit to being done.  But the running, combined with chasing two little kids all day, has kept my weight gain down to about 15 pounds, about 5 pounds less than I had gained by this point in the last two pregnancies.  I have struggled with too much weight gain with both previous pregnancies, so keeping my weight down is a good thing.  Here’s hoping it will continue.

I am slowing down.  I just can’t stand on my feet as much, or pick up things off the floor very easily.  Today we went to the state fair, and my exhaustion was pronounced.  I remember being there last year with a 3-week-old and not being nearly as tired.  That gives me some hope that having three little kids will be easier than having two little kids whilst being pregnant.

I had a serious freak-out this past week.  Not for any particular reason, but I freaked out about the prospect of having three kids.  And specifically, having a 17 month old and a newborn home with me.  MJ will be in preschool Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which will help.  Greta’s at the age where she’s happy doing just about anything, so hopefully that will make my days a bit easier.  But I was specifically freaking out about dropping her off and picking her up every day.  I was imagining shlepping through the January snow, carrying a newborn and a 17 month old, because I’m sure Greta won’t walk that well in snow by then.  Also corralling a 4-year-old MJ.  Twice a day.   And this is on top of probably having to wake someone or the other up for drop-off and pickup, because I’m sure their naps won’t align.  Thankfully, I did find out that drop-off is essentially pushing them out of the car (with slightly more ceremony), which will make one aspect of my life easier.  It eased my freak-out a bit, at least.

We’ve been busy around here readying the house.  Specifically, we moved the girls into the same room.  Other than the first week, it has gone exceedingly well.  Mornings are a bit frustrating, because often Greta will wake up MJ after her morning bottle.  But I think we’re missing out on about half-an-hour of sleep at most, since MJ generally is difficult to wake unless she’s pretty close to waking on her own.  And they are happy to play together for a while, so that helps.  Mostly, I am just sad that my little sleep-inner (Greta) has been waking at more like 6:30 than her previous 8:00.  I know that for those of you who work, your sympathy for me is non-existent.  But if I want any time to myself in the evening, then a 6:30 wakeup is just tough.  I’m not nice at that hour, never have been.  And when dealing with little kids, nice is a necessity.

I’m rambling.  

Baby boy.  This is supposed to be about you.  Soon enough, I will fill this space with pictures of you.  But pictures of my exploding belly are all I can offer right now, and that’s just not that cute.  

I made the mistake of saying to MJ that I wasn’t that excited about having a boy, and now she tells everyone that I don’t want a boy.  I feel I should clarify.  I am a bit scared, because most of the little boys I know are even more high energy than their sisters, and I fear that you will be even crazier than your sisters.  I’m not sure I can handle that.  I’m told your Dad was a wild child, which I totally believe, and given your genetics you’re unlikely to be calm.  But please, can you at least not be the craziest one? 

22 weeks & 2 days pregnant.  Sorry about the messy room, wet hair and general chaos.  At least it’s authentic.

Our little walker

I love this little waddle.  She’s been solidly walking for about a week, and already that waddle is diminishing as she gets more sure on her feet.  I should also clarify, her wet bottom is because she was playing in a creek; I do, in fact, change her diaper.

I think I promised you this announcement.

Gigi rounds the bend.

And by that, I mean she turned one.  The big 1.  It felt like such a milestone for MJ, and did not feel like much of a milestone for Greta.  I did have the obligatory “last year at this time…” type feelings, but this time I know how much more we have to go.  And by that, I mean that I don’t really know, because I do know there’s a lot more I don’t even know about.  But I realize she’s still so little this time, and have a better idea of what lies in front of me.

Nonetheless, the girl deserved cake, and a celebration of her little personhood.  We were in New York for her birthday, visiting my in-laws, so it was a great opportunity for them to get to celebrate with her.  At 1 year, Greta was finally pushing through her first tooth, which still remains nothing more than a nub and which I still haven’t snagged a good picture of.  At 1, she’s taking steps but not exactly walking (though 2 weeks later I would call it walking, with a good bit of crawling still mixed in).  Most of all, she is my little Gigi, and not really all that little.  She’s still all smiles, and exudes joy all the time.  She gets grumpy on occasion, mostly if she’s tired or hungry, but all other times is a bucket of smiles.  She’s getting some definite curls, which makes me smile; her hair is darker and a bit redder than her sisters.  But they very much look like sisters, which makes me happy.

One of her favorite things is climbing stairs, and if the gate is left open she looks at me to see if I’ve noticed, then races as fast as she can to the stairs.  She loves to pile things in boxes, bags, and carts and haul them around.  She is obsessed with putting objects inside other objects, which is something MJ didn’t enjoy until she was quite a bit older.  She’s not all that interested in books yet, but we keep trying.  

She has become so much a part of this family, and trying to remember life before is difficult and seems empty.  She loves her Dad something fierce.  Despite being home with me all day, she is not afraid of strangers and is happy to smile and chatter with anyone.  She’s even open to other folks holding her, as long as they give her a moment to take them in first.  She is an interesting combination of busy and easy.  She’s into everything, but so very good at entertaining herself.  And not really all that destructive, given her age (or at least, given what I remember of MJ at this age.)

Gigi, I can’t believe it’s already been a year.  And, also, I can’t believe it’s only been a year, because it feels as though you’ve been part of our family forever.  I love you something fierce, and I’m so happy you’re ours.

Love, Mama

Some first steps and remnant crawling.

Summer 2013, Day in the Life

In the spring, I did a Week in the Life as inspired by Navigating the Mothership.  I spent that entire week pondering a brand new, very big secret, that I haven’t yet shared on here.  It turns out, I’m pregnant with our third kid.

There you have it.  Every day, tops in my mind was the fact that I had just found out I was pregnant, and could not wrap my head around it.  This time, I can’t even hide it, so I may as well as get it out there.  In fact, we find out tomorrow whether it’s a boy or girl.  So more to come.

Anyway. This “Day in the Life” took place on Thursday, August 1st.  Greta is 1 year and 3 days old.  MJ is almost 4.  And I am 19 weeks pregnant.

5:00 a.m. Greta wakes up and Hubs gives her a bottle of milk.  We have just moved Greta into MJ’s room and it has been a struggle for them to not wake each other up in the early morning.  They do fine at night, even if one wakes up crying, the other sleeps through it.  But mornings are a struggle.  Greta is still in a Pack and Play while we decide if we are fully committed to this idea.  Although we have a 4-bedroom house, we would like to keep one room for guests because the Grandma’s come to visit so much.  But is it worth all the poor sleep in the meantime?  We’ll have to see.

6:00 a.m. MJ wakes up.  We shuffle her upstairs to the family room in hopes she doesn’t wake up Greta, and this morning it works, because G doesn’t wake up until 8:00 a.m.  

8:00 a.m.  The hubs is apparently trying to be super husband today.  Does he know this will be my day in the life?  He gets up and changes Greta’s poopy diaper.  Sleeping this late is a rare treat around these parts.  I remember my Mom always telling me that once I had kids I would have trouble sleeping in, but that has not been the case for me.  I can still sleep in like a champ when given the opportunity.

8:15 a.m.  I start making muffins.  I had decided to do this the previous evening, because we just got back from a week away and it feels like we have nothing nutritious in the house.  I recently got the Weelicious cookbook and settle on the sweet potato muffins.  But the kids are STARVING and grumpy and Vito’s yapping about something.    I am feeling super grumpy and am not dealing well.  I continue to feel constantly overwhelmed by these kids, even when I get small breaks.  But the hubs comes downstairs and we get five minutes to chat which helps me feel more sane and grounded.  I finish the muffins, get them in the oven, tide Greta over with something in the mean time and pour some coffee.

The hubs snapped this before he left for work.  MJ ready to bake muffins.

9:00 Muffins come out.  While they cool I retreat to the bathroom, only 5 feet away, for 5 minutes of peace.  It’s the only place they will let me have some quiet.  I read a post about parenting and how everyone feels overwhelmed but to enjoy it anyway, which makes me feel immensely better.  Sometimes cheesy re-posts are all I need to hear.  

9:15 a.m.  MJ sees me scribbling notes about my day, and she is bummed that “Mom and Dad can write better than me.”  I explain the value of practicing and that I didn’t used to know how to write.  We sit down to eat muffins.  They are quite tasty and not too sweet.  Exactly what I had hoped for.  After we all finish eating I get G out of the high chair and the girls play in the living room.  

"Mom, I’m very dehydrated right now.  Can I have something dehydrated to drink?"  I love when she picks up these big words but still gets them a little confused.  I manage to spill half a jug of iced coffee in the fridge while I’m getting her milk.  Days with kids are really just moving from one mess to another.

9:25 a.m.  Time to get dressed.  Any time we have to move a floor I swear we have to add 10 minutes to the time one would expect.  I let Greta crawl up the stairs, one of her favorite activities.  If she catches sight of the gate to the stairs open, she takes off across the room to race up the stairs.  She’s pretty good at climbing them, but sometimes gets distracted and doesn’t pay attention to where she’s at, so I still get nervous.  Overall, she is SO much happier than she has been; I’m not sure if it’s teething, or sleep, or what, but she’s been such a grump.

The challenge in trying to get ready in the morning….

I accidentally deleted the non-blurry one when trying to make space on my phone.  Looking pretty pregnant, and very momish.  

What MJ looks like when she’s “ready”.  She went for a lot of accessories.

9:50 a.m. Back downstairs.  We’re getting ready to walk to the Red Balloon book shop and I had hoped to stop to pick up my prescription on the way.  It looks like I may still have time?  But impossible to say until we’re out of the house and the kids are in the stroller.

Greta, happy as a clam, waiting patiently for us to depart.

10:05 a.m. Finally on our way.  Probably not time to stop, but we’ll stop after.  Greta is so in love with walks, that if she even catches sight of me pulling the stroller out she goes nuts.  Not a peep of protest from her while we walk.  On our way, we pass by a woman with a walker who says “Looks like you’ve got your hands full”.  I get this comment so much now.  Do I really look that overwhelmed all the time?  Probably.

10:15 a.m. We arrive at the bookstore.  I think we came here during my last two day in the life’s as well, must be something I only do quarterly as I know I haven’t been in months.    There is a piano sitting outside that MJ pounds away on, and I try to delete some photos from my phone.  Keeping space on my phone is a constant struggle.

Happy for noisemaking that occurs outside the confines of our house.

10:30 a.m. Story time starts.  The lady leading story time has lost her voice and is whispering.  It is possibly the worst story time I’ve ever been to.  I would think one of the women working behind the counter would take over but instead they let her struggle through.  Greta doesn’t sit still for a single instant during the entire story time.  She insists on going up and down the two stairs, climbing around and pulling books off the shelves, spinning the standing book rack, and generally causing chaos.  She even crawls up and tries to take the story ladies puppet.  Ugh.  I remember MJ being crazy like this, too, but I though with Greta we might escape it.  Also, MJ would at least sit down for short periods.

Not remotely interested in story time.  But the rest was pretty cool, apparently.

11:05 a.m. Get the girls back in the stroller.  Already feel worn out and the day is not half done.

11:15 a.m.  Arrive at CVS to pick up my thyroid medicine.  It is apparently not ready, so I use this a weak excuse to stop at the coffee shop next door for treats.  I fear I’ve acquainted MJ too deeply with coffee shop treats.  We get smoothies, pick up my medicine and head home.  I am tired, and the very small hill feels like a lot to push my 55 lbs of kids up

11:40 a.m. Home.  Greta fell asleep in the stroller, so I move her upstairs, but put her in her old room.  I’m not sure why.  I come back downstairs to bring the stroller inside and run into my neighbor, who I’ll be seeing tonight at our monthly happy hour.  She asks if I have any news to share.  I smile and say that I figure it’s not really news at this point.  She says she promised herself never to ask because she got it wrong once, which I silently find very funny because she was the first one to ask me if I was pregnant with Greta, at only 10 weeks.  But it was New Years, so perhaps she was intoxicated and her judgement was off.  Anyway.  I have been both times, so no insult.  

11:50 a.m.  MJ is not hungry for lunch because of our pre-lunch treat.  Oy.  I let her watch the iPad since Greta is sleeping, and I sit down to a very nutritionally suspect lunch of crackers and cheese, mainly because I want to spend G’s nap time sitting and not cooking.  This pregnancy is really starting to suck my energy.  While eating, Iread Navigating the Mothership’s announcement.  I cry at her video.  I never watch videos on other people’s blogs, but this time I do and of course I cry.  I spend the rest of Greta’s nap time working on some blog stuff and some other computer stuff.  Basically, I just rest, because I have learned I need to rest when Greta rests rather than scurrying to get things done.  If I don’t, I am totally out of energy for the end of the day when the kids are being mini-tyrants and I have no patience.

My typical lunch time scene.  Struggling to keep MJ sitting down, you’d think this was a new concept for her.

1:15 p.m. G wakes up.  My day starts again.  I rouse MJ from the iPad, change a dirty diaper and make PB&J for the girls.  MJ would subsist entirely off PB&J if I let her.  I let her have it almost every day for lunch, knowing full well that once she starts back to school she can’t take nuts in.  So maybe she’ll grow tired of it by then.  Doubtful, though.  While the girls are eating, I duck downstairs to switch clothes over and do some dishes.  Greta is obsessed with the dishwasher and I can only have it open when she’s not crawling around.  A problem I never had with MJ since we didn’t have a dishwasher when she was this age.  We finish off sandwiches with some frozen peas.  What a … nutritional (?) lunch.  The girls spend much of lunch making each other laugh, and I am so glad they like each other so much.  I am also so glad they have gotten to have this time together before MJ starts off to school.

The girls playing “nicely”.

Greta attacking MJ.  A lot more of this these days, but she loves it.

And now MJ teaching Greta how to walk.  They go pretty fast together.

2:25 p.m.  It’s absolutely beautiful outside.  Like, perfect weather.  Although the extended forecast continues to look good, it’s hard not to feel the need to take advantage, so I decide to go for a walk.  But since Greta has been trying to take walking toys around our house and keeps running into walls, I decide we’ll let her practice walking down the sidewalk.  MJ wants to take her scooter, but we can’t find her helmet and she throws a tantrum.  

2:55 p.m. Finally, MJ decided it will suffice if she can push a stroller with a baby down the block.  So both girls have strollers with babies and we head out.  They are quite the adorable sight.  I have to readjust Greta’s direction often, and she stops every time she hears a noise to look around.  Every house with steps she tops and tries to climb, if I let her.  Half way through, she gets pretty tired so I carry her and MJ helps push both strollers.  At one point we realize we can put Greta in hers and MJ can push it.  It’s adorable, though decidedly not very safe, but MJ is good about pushing her slowly.

God they’re cute.

Checking out an apartment building.  What’s inside?

Wants to be just like her sister.

Babies having babies.

3:20 p.m.  Back home.  I decide our outings are done for now.  I’m beat.  Pregnancy sucks the life out of me.  We play in the living room, and then in the back yard.  Greta is obsessed with putting things inside things.  MJ is obsessed with coloring, and designing elaborate schemes.  We have a snack… blueberries and yogurt.  I enjoy the girls so much more when I don’t try to accomplish anything.

MJ is excited to learn “hand sewing”.  The details are unimportant, apparently.

Playing is exhausting.  I totally agree.

4:15 p.m. MJ has T-Ball soon and so we need to start getting ready.  I ask her to pick up her toys and she throws a tantrum.  I get mad.  I am tired and beyond fed up.  She gets sent to her room and I end up putting several toys downstairs.  The deal we have is that if she won’t pick things up, she can’t play with them.  It keeps my life easier and our house less cluttered and has generally worked well.  Mostly, she’s tired because she got up so freaking early.

4:30 p.m.  Dad comes home.  Him and the girls eat dinner.  I made a pretty terrible salad that no one is excited about, so we scrounge together some things from the fridge.  I ask how he’d feel about taking the girls by himself to T-ball.  He’s not terribly excited about it, but I’m just so beat and never get time to myself. He decides he wants to bike with them there, so we scurry around trying to get everything together.  Can’t find MJ’s team shirt.   Oh well.

5:22 p.m.  Dad is off.  I sit down.  My legs are exhausted.  I play Candy Crush on my phone, which I am stupidly hooked on.

5:40 p.m. I take a shower.  I test the upstairs shower, which we just got fixed (it was leaking) and enjoy the new (to us) shower.  It’s been broken for a year-and-a-half.  We expected a huge repair bill, but it was only $140.  Probably should have gotten that fixed earlier.  I spend more time than usual getting ready, mainly because I can.  The house is quiet, and sometimes it’s nice to actually look nice.  My hair has been a train wreck of late and I experiment with it.

Yep, definitely pregnant.

6:15 p.m. I am ready.  I sit on the front porch, enjoying the peace.

6:45 p.m.  I hear some crying, and it sounds like Greta, but I didn’t think they were home.  There are babies in two surrounding houses so I assume it must be one of them.  But husband comes outside a few minutes later, and we discuss finding a baby sitter for a meeting we have with our financial planner.  There was mis-communication and we end up having to call on a friend of ours.   MJ comes outside with a box to turn into a spaceship.  I realize she dumped out all my maternity clothes to use the box, and I get mad, but hubs points out that I should not.  I don’t deal well with these things, I really need to do better.  We sit on the front porch, MJ coloring her spaceship, and enjoy the evening.

When forced to, I guess I can part with my cardboard box for the sake of a spaceship.

7:25 p.m. Walk down to my neighbors house to meet up for our monthly happy hour.  I haven’t made it to one in a very long time, it’s nice to see them.  We decide on a last minute change of plans, and instead of heading to a restaurant hang out on our neighbors front porch.  We scurry to let everyone know, which is tough because there were a lot of “Maybe” responses.  I like hanging out with these women because all of them have older kids.  It’s nice to talk about what the future will be like, hear about schools and generally be around women who have been doing this a bit longer than I have.  

10:15 p.m. Head home.  Lovely evening, lots of mosquito bites.  

A few things.

1) I'm moving my blog.  Please find me over here:  babymamasdrama.tumblr.com
2) I have an announcement for you.  If you follow me, I figure you should at least get a reward.

Blogger, you've been good to me, but it's time.

l8r sk8r

11 months

Since I'm a week late, I'll talk about that too.  Because, just in the past few days, you have become toddler-ish.  You are still my smiley, drooley, squawking, toothless little baby, but goodness, you are into things.

This past month you took a trip to Oregon and a trip to a friends cabin.  You also survived nearly two weeks without Dad around (which really means you survived being around Mom for nearly 2 weeks without Dad around).  You learned to crawl up stairs, and do it very well until you get distracted and fall over.  Thankfully, only a couple minor tumbles so far, but there are so many stairs in this house that it's a constant battle.  Your sister is very good about keeping an eye out for you.  We keep hoping you'll  learn to go down them, and to pay attention to them, but that hasn't clicked yet.

I'm starting to think you're saying things.  Dad seems to consistently get assigned "Dada" and I seem to consistently get assigned "Mama".  It may just be wishful thinking, but you at least seem to be trying to assign words to things.

You have definitely developed opinions on food this month.  You simply must feed yourself, and if you even catch sight of a strawberry, watermelon or popsicle you go nuts.  We have now introduced pretty much all foods to you, including the allergens (peanut butter, strawberries, eggs).  But, you still have NO teeth.  Seriously!  You are eating just about everything we eat, but yet you have no teeth.  In some sense maybe this is good, because you work at your food more before swallowing.  Dr. Google tells me we're still in the range of normal, but I have an irrational fear you have no teeth at all under those gums.

You are much more pensive than your sister was.  You will actually sit and work at a toy to try to figure it out.  You love putting objects inside other objects and carrying them around.  You are starting to develop an interest in books, especially since discovering that if you bring one to me I will read it to you.  Your attention span for sitting and listening is usually only about 20 seconds, but you gotta start somewhere.

This past month has been beautiful, so we've spent a lot of time outside.  Which means you've spent a lot of time as a complete dirtball.  You discovered that playing with dirt is a blast, as is sticking rocks in your mouth.  Everything still goes in the mouth.

You've been practicing walking with a walker toy.  If I got it out more often you'd probably be even closer to walking than you already are.  Although I'm in no rush for you to walk, you have certainly gotten heavy and it is getting harder and harder to haul you around.  So in that sense, it will be nice when you can walk.

Sleep has been a bit of a struggle, as you've still been waking up twice a night for a bottle.  But, you average 14 hours of sleep a night and even slept 15.5 one night.  So somehow that seems kind of reasonable.  Generally just one nap a day.  But the past week-and-a-half you've started going to bed later than your usual 6 p.m. and waking earlier than your usual 8 a.m. so I've started think about night weaning.  I'm getting tired by the change in schedule so perhaps it's time to break you of this habit (which your pediatrician told me to break you of 5 months ago... oy...)

You are quite possibly the most joyous child I've ever met.  Your sister was awfully joyous, too, but you just seem to have grins busting out of you.  Like you can't contain them and they just pop out and knock you over.  I love this about you.  You have become such a part of this family.  You adore your sister and your Dad, and love to get in on the wrestling matches.  You fill out this family in a way I never expected and make it feel more complete than it ever did before.  I look forward to getting to know you better, and even sometimes find myself looking forward to Threenager Greta.  Hard as that is to believe.

It was incredibly hard to get photos this month.  This was my favorite, and I was bummed that it was a bit blurry.  This has become a much beloved game: knock over the blocks before Mom intervenes.

10 months...

... and a record 11 days late.  But I promise I'll have you to your first day of school on time.

There are a lot of pictures here, but I narrowed it down from 142, so I think I'm doing pretty good.  I also think I have the most adorable little chunk on the planet.  My neighbor possibly said it best, "She looks like a little lemon!"

This was a fun month.  I was almost sad to see her start crawling, because it means she's getting so big, but it's been fun to see her explore.  It's been interesting to see what she gets into when she can get into whatever she wants.  At the close of the month, she still wasn't a fast crawler (which has since changed), but she does get where she wants to go.

Her schedule is a little weird, I think.  She generally goes to sleep about 6 or 7 pm, and will sleep until about 7 or 8 am.  She takes two bottles in that interval, one before I go to bed and one sometime in the early morning hours.  I know she's old enough to be night weaned, but she scarfs them down and goes right back to sleep, so I'm rolling with it.  She'll then only take one nap a day.  I admit we cheat, in that she sometimes (often) goes in the swing in the early morning to get her to sleep a bit longer.  Otherwise she'd be up at 6 and ready to nap by 9, right when MJ and I are trying to go somewhere.

She continues to be the most mellow, happy and smiley kid.  She's quieter and calmer than MJ, but not really very quiet or calm.  Her desperation to walk has toned down a bit since she started crawling; although she still pulls herself up a lot, not as much as she used to.

She eats pretty well, and likes most everything, with the exception of fava beans and avocado.  This was the month she insisted on feeding herself, so we've had to get more creative in what we give her.  My realization that squeeze pouches work well has been a godsend.

I want to hold on to my baby forever, but as I give her a bottle in the middle of the night, I realize how much she's outgrowing the cradle position I like to hold her in.  My lap suddenly seems much smaller.  She'll be a toddler soon, I know.  I'm sure it's lucky that the baby phase passes quickly or we would eat our young, but it's so very bitter sweet.  I think I'll probably cry at her 1st birthday party, officially beckoning in the era of me becoming my mother.

Greta, I want to bottle your sweetness and smiles and never let them go.  Imagining you as a tantrummy, attitude filled 3 year old makes me cringe a little.  I am excited to see your personality shine through, but I will forever miss you just as you are now.